All that was required for Manchester City to get the required three points at Brentford was a single goal from Phil Foden on Wednesday night as the Cityzens increased their lead at the summit of the log.
Returning to the team as part of the changes made from the Boxing Day game against Leicester City after he was seemingly left out of the squad for two matches for unacceptable off-field behavior along with Jack Grealish, Foden struck in the 16th minute, a goal that proved the decided in the encounter.
Pep Guardiola, who even before now has been known for rotating his team didn't do any different as he made four changes to his team, bringing in Nathan Ake, Jack Grealish, Gabriel Jesus and Phil Foden, while Kyle Waker, John Stones and Rodri still remain unavailable.
Thomas Frank was facing a hard time with team selection as six of his preferred starters were not available either due to Covid-19, but more due to injury. A long list of injury that includes Bryan Mbeumo, Christian Nordgaard, Zanka, Christopher Ajer, Rico Henry and first choice goalkeeper, David Raya.
Ederson Moraes had to make a string of fine saves in the early exchanges to keep things level. Sloppy defending by City allowed Yoanne Wissa to break free and force Ederson to a low save.
Frank Onyeka in retrospect would think he should have done better when he was played through on goal by Shandon Baptiste, only for the Nigerian to hit his shot straight at Ederson.
Wissa again led a swift break out for the Bees and his deflected shot off Ruben Dias was only saved by a sharp reflex reaction from Ederson. Then he saw his effort headed off the line by Joao Cancelo. All these within the first 15 minutes.
For all the bright prospects that Brentford showed in that fist quarter of an hour, it was City who took the lead against the run of play as Phil Foden was on hand to tap in from close range, a perfectly weighted cross from Kevin De Bruyne. The goal was subjected to VAR review, but survived at it showed he was just behind the Brentford defence in the build up.
Foden must have thought he had grabbed his second of the night as he rose highest to meet a cross from Cancelo, but this time, his effort did not survive VAR reviewed as it was rightly ruled out for offside.
Chances were far and in between, and after the hour mark, Bernando Silva had taken over things, orchestrating the game for the visitors as he set up De Bruyne for another goalscoring opportunity, whose effort from just outside the box came off the Brentford post.
The Belgian would turn provider for what seemed destined as City's second goal of the night with four minutes left to play. His cross from a free kick was well connected to by Aymeric Laporte's header into the bottom corner. VAR review showed differently as Laporte was just offside as he attacked the ball.
Concluding Thoughts
On paper, it would have been a win given to Manchester City, considering first, their arsenal of players and then the depleted nature of an injury hit Brentford, but far from it was the eventual outcome.
Brentford gave a good account of themselves, something they have done since the beginning of the campaign and obviously didn't go down without a fight.
They know they still have a lot to do with 20 points from their 18 games this season, leaving them in 14th position. A race to ensure safety early would most likely be their goal for the remainder of the season.
_mGuardiola may be unhappy with some uncoordinated play by his team, especially in the final third. It was a rare sight of a team keeping City at bay, but he'd be happy to have gotten the three points, which is what matters most.
Notwithstanding, they had more of the ball, but were unable to easily carve Brentford open as shown with the one goal they were able to score and the chances missed by Brentford themselves, thanks to some excellent display by Ederson, who kept his 11th clean sheet of the campaign.
The win leaves them eights point clear at the top of the log following Liverpool's surprise loss at Leicester City and the last gasp equalizer of Brighton against Chelsea.
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